Beginnings

On today's episode I talk to actress and musician Aleksa Palladino. Originally form New York,  Aleksa got her start acting as a teenager, performing opposite Scarlett Johansson in the movie Manny and Lo. Since then, she's acted in numerous films, most notably Storytelling, Mona Lisa Smile, and Before the Devil Knows You're Dead, Sidney Lumet's last film, as well as a ton of TV shows, which include...

On today's episode I talk to actor and author Keiko  Agena. Keiko is best known for the TV show Gilmore Girls, where she played Lane Kim for seven seasons and reprised the role in 2016 for the Netflix series. As a guest star, she has appeared on such shows as Bajillion Dollar Propertie$, Shameless, Scandal, House, ER, Better Call Saul and many others, and recently she has been recurring on Sweet/V...

On today's episode I talk to actor, writer and filmmaker Todd Berger. Originally from New Orleans, Todd has been making movies since he was a teenager. Professionally, he's acted in numerous TV shows and films including Parks and Rec, Maron, and Southland Tales, and has written and/or directed dozens of shorts, shows and films including the wonderful 2012 film It's a Disaster and his latest film,...

On today's episode I talk to author Brian Evenson. Based in Los Angels, Brian teaches in the Critical Studies Program at CalArts and is the author of a dozen books of fiction, most recently the story collection A Collapse of Horses and the novella The Warren. Brian's work has garnered many nominations and awards. Two of his recent books, Windeye and Immobility, were both finalists for a Shirley Ja...

On today's episode I talk to comedian Jon Gabrus. Originally from Long Island, Jon has been acting and podcasting for over a decade. He's been featured on MTV2's hit shows Guy Code, Girl Code, and Wild N Out, and recurs as Gabe on TVLand's Younger. He has also appeared on 30 Rock and one of the silent writers and has guest starred on numerous shows including Happy Endings, Workaholics, NewsReaders...

On today's episode I talk to musician Matt Pryor. Originally from Kansas City, Missouri, Matt has been playing music professionally for over two decades. First with The Get Up Kids, who are generally thought of as one of the quintessential bands of the second-wave emo movement. They've toured the world and released five critically and commercially successful albums over their career: Four Minute M...

On today's episode I talk to musician Liz Stokes. Based in New Zealand, Liz is the lead singer and guitarist of the indie rock band The Beths. While a relatively new group - their debut EP Warm Blood was released in 2016 - they have a sense of self and chemistry that is utterly apparent from even a casual listen. Their first album Future Me Hates Me will be released on August 10th on Carpark Recor...

On today's episode I talk to musicians Colin Newman and Malka Spigel. Married since 1986, Colin and Malka are a post-punk power couple. Colin is a member of the seminal post-punk band Wire, whose early albums Pink Flag, Chairs Missing and 154 were the blueprints for decades of music. And Colin continues to be a vibrant creative voice with his solo albums, and his work with his wife Malka in Githea...

This week my new podcast Couples Therapy debuts, so I thought I'd give y'all a taste of that! If you like it, subscribe and follow us on social media! This is  the website  for  Beginnings ,  subscribe on Apple Podcasts , follow me on  Twitter .

On today's episode I talk to writer Glen David Gold. Glen is the author of the bestselling novels Sunnyside and Carter Beats the Devil, and his essays, memoir, journalism and short fiction have appeared in McSweeney's, Playboy, Wired, the New York Times Sunday Magazine, the Guardian UK and London Independent. He has written The Spirit for DC comics and The Escapist for Dark Horse and recently he h...

On today's episode I talk to musician Nora Singh. Originally from Texas, Nora nee Anna Barie started playing music over a decade ago with the Brooklyn experimental noise band These Are Powers. They released a number of albums on HOSS Records and Dead Oceans. In 2012, Nora moved to France and started the electronic duo DUBAI, and eventually ended up in LA, where she founded the "queencore" band Hit...

On today's episode I talk to TV writer Adam Zwar. Originally from Cairns, Queensland, Adam is an award-winning Australian actor, voice artist, and writer. He is best known for co-creating the Australian comedy series Squinters, Lowdown, Wilfred and creating the popular factual series Agony Aunts, Agony Uncles, The Agony of Life, The Agony of Modern Manners and Agony. In addition to all this, he wa...

On today's episode I talk to writer and podcaster Kara Brown . Kara started out writing for magazines and websites like Glamour, Vanity Fair, Billboard and The Cut, and was a senior writer for Jezebel. She's written for the Black-ish spin-off grown-ish, contributes to Shondaland.com, is the co-host of Crooked Media's pop culture podcast Keep It, and this year, was named one of the "30 under 30 in...

On today's episode I talk to musician Colleen Green. Based in Los Angeles (where she was voted best solo artist by LA Weekly), Colleen has recorded three albums in the last seven years, her first, Milo Goes to Compton, in 2011, and two subsequent albums Sock It To Me and I Want to Grow Up, which were both released by Hardly Art. She has toured all over the world, and this summer is playing all aro...

On today's episode I talk to Cecil Castellucci. Based in Los Angeles, Cecil is the author of books and graphic novels for young adults including Boy Proof, The Plain Janes, Soupy Leaves Home, The Year of the Beasts, Tin Star, and the Eisner nominated Odd Duck. In 2015, she co-authored Moving Target: A Princess Leia Adventure, and currently is writing Shade, The Changing Woman (formerly Shade, The...

On today's episode I talk to James McCall AKA Nocando . Born and raised in Los Angeles, Nocando got his start rap battling in Leimert Park in the Crenshaw District of South Central, and In 2007, he won the MC Battle at Scribble Jam, the largest hip-hop festival in the nation. Since 2004, he's released a ton of EPs, mixtapes and featured on dozens of songs, as well as a number of collaborations inc...

On today's episode I talk to Amy Aniobi . Amy is a TV writer originally hailing from North Texas. She is a co-executive producer on HBO's groundbreaking comedy,  Insecure starring Issa Rae, and she also served as head writer/EP for the 2 Dope Queens stand-up specials on HBO. In addition, Amy has written for Silicon Valley, The Michael J. Fox Show and Trial and Error. Amy has a number of projects i...

On today's episode I talk to actor D'Arcy Carden . Originally from Danville, CA, D'Arcy got her comedy start at UCB where she was on a number of house sketch and improv teams. She's appeared on shows like Comedy Bang Bang, Veep, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend and Broad CIty, and currently, she is one of the members of the acting class on the incredible HBO show Barry and one of the stars of the fantastic NBC...

On today's episode I talk to Julia Wertz . Julia is a professional cartoonist, amateur historian and part time urban explorer/photographer. She made the comic books The Fart Party vol 1 and vol 2 (collected in Museum of Mistakes) and the graphic novels Drinking at the Movies, and The Infinite Wait and Other Stories, both of which were nominated for Eisner Awards. Her newest book, Tenements, Towers...

On today's episode I talk to Dan Gregor . Dan is a TV and film writer and director, who got his comedy start as one of the founding members of the (now) long-running NYU sketch group Hammerkatz and as a performer at UCB. He's written feature films for Disney, Paramount Studios, Universal Pictures and Imagine Entertainment; for shows like How I Met Your Mother, The Comedians, and NTSF:SD:SUV; and h...

On today's episode I talk to  Aisling Bea . Originally from County Kildare, Ireland, Aisling has been acting and performing stand-up for over a decade. She's appeared on almost every TV panel show in the UK including 8 Out Of 10 Cats (where she was the first ever female team captain), Taskmaster, Qi, @Midnight and many others. As an actor, Aisling has been in many shows, both drama and comedy, inc...

On today's episode I talk to Wayne White . Born and raised in Chattanooga, Wayne is an artist, art director, illustrator, puppeteer, and much, much more. After graduating from Middle Tennessee State University, Wayne traveled to New York City where he worked as an illustrator for the East Village Eye, New York Times, Raw Magazine, and the Village Voice. In 1986, Wayne became a designer for the hit...

On today's episode I talk to Carson Mell . Originally from Arizona, Carson is a writer based in Los Angeles, who's worked on a number of shows including Eastbound & Down, Room 104, Silicon Valley and many others. Carson also created the webseries Tarantula, and in 2017, the first season of a show based on the webseries debuted on TBS. (It's great!) In addition to his TV writing, Carson is also an...

On today's episode I talk to Anna Waronker . Anna is a singer/songwriter, composer, and producer originally from Los Angeles. After graduating from high school, Anna formed the band that would eventually become That Dog. While the band was only active for six years, they released three great albums on DGC Records (That Dog, Totally Crushed Out and Retreat from The Sun) and toured with everyone fro...

On today's episode I talk to Josh Ruben . Josh is a 5-time Webby award winning actor, writer, and director, best known for appearing in and/or directing thousands of shorts for comedy megasite, CollegeHumor. Josh's podcast, The Mindhouse, is a part of fellow CollegeHumor alums Jake & Amir's HeadGum network, and as an actor, he appeared opposite Adam Devine in Season 3 of "Adam Devine's House Party...